https://www.mercurynews.com/20...h-for-wildlife-loss/



‘Imperialist colonizer:’ Prince William ripped for blaming African population growth for wildlife loss

Prince William’s statements on population growth struck many as simplistic, or as if the future king was attacking Africans for having too many children


By MARTHA ROSS | Bay Area News Group
November 24, 2021 at 12:15 p.m.

Prince William’s statements Tuesday about how Africa’s population growth is impacting the continent’s wildlife is not going down well, particularly among those who view the royal family as an anachronistic relic of Britain’s racist, colonizing past.

During the the Tusk Conservation Awards, the Duke of Cambridge said: “The increasing pressure on Africa’s wildlife and wild spaces as a result of human population presents a huge challenge for conservationists, as it does the world over.”

As the Times U.K. reported, Africa’s population is on course to double by 2050, to 2.5 billion, and the expansion of agriculture and other development is seen as a major threat to many endangered species.



But William’s remarks struck many as simplistic, with regard to the complex causes of wildlife extinction. To critics, Britain’s future king also sounded as though he was attacking Africans for having too many children.

In this way, his comments echoed similar remarks he made at a Tusk charity event in November 2017. He talked about Africa’s “staggering” population growth putting “enormous pressure” on wildlife, sparking questions about royal hypocrisy and his personal family-planning choices.

At the time, William and his wife Kate Middleton were expecting their third child, Prince Louis.

Phil Dampier, author of books on the royal family, tweeted at the time: “If Prince William thinks there are too many people in the world shouldn’t he and Kate have stuck to two children themselves?”

Following William’s comments Tuesday night, critics on social media said he sounded like a rich, entitled European who continues to see Africa as a place to colonize or to use for his playground for tourism.

“Prince William wants to dictate to Africans like his imperialist colonizer family did for 100s of years,” tweeted one person. “Africa has no population congestion problem and is no trophy hunting ground for Europeans.”


Others pointed out how William’s views failed to address the “wider context” of climate change, population density and the distribution of natural resources.

“The Prince rightly draws attention to human population growth as a key driver of wildlife loss,” Robin Maynard, director of the charity Population Matters, told Euronews.com. “There is also a wider context, with high consumption in rich, developed countries like the UK also driving habitat destruction, climate change and pollution — all drivers of extinctions. Addressing our consumption here is essential, too.”

Many comments on Twitter aligned with the complexities Maynard addressed, but they were lacerating in their views about William and the royal family.

“I’ve yet to hear Prince William talk about how much his own family has contributed to the current climate disaster,” one person said. “How much CO2 they emit from their palaces and private jets and helicopters that they use as Ubers. For all the children they have and energy they consume.”

Someone else added: “Prince William has three kids who will have travelled by private jet many times by the time they’re 10. The problem is not overpopulation. The problem is overconsumption from people like him.”

Maynard agreed that couples in developed countries can choose smaller families to help reduce over-consumption of natural resources, but he said that’s not a choice available to “hundreds of millions of women” elsewhere around the world.

That’s particularly true in sub-Sahara Africa, he said, while noting that the U.K. government had cut funding for international aid for family planning.

“The number of women with an unmet need for safe, modern contraception across sub-Saharan Africa is rising,” Maynard said. “Empowering women with access to and choice of contraception is crucial to reducing poverty, enabling development and giving more space to nature.”

They don’t like to hear the truth!

Well William for rattling their closed doors!

Problem with Africa is Africans eat themselves out of food and breed themselves out of space and then blame us

Damn straight. THE biggest reason.

Good for William.

Prince William is an imperial colonist when he tells the truth, but somehow it's okay when activist want to dictate how African countries manage their wildlife.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
They don’t like to hear the truth!

Well William for rattling their closed doors!

The elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about.

Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by CharlesL:
Prince William is an imperial colonist when he tells the truth, but somehow it's okay when activist want to dictate how African countries manage their wildlife.

Whenever I see the word "activists" I immediately know we are talking about brainless idiots whose sole purpose in life is to dictate to others what they should and should not do.

Almost had a fight with one the other day, as a friend brought her here and introduced her as an "activist".

I said "ah a brainless idiot!"

Went downhill from there.

I think I put some doubts in her empty head about what she knows, and what reality is.

She said she will never come here again.

Good riddance!

Well done. They only think they are so right because very few people challenge their crazy ideas.

He speaks the truth.

Africa will double in population in 30 years. It is the biggest.....by far the biggest reason that wildlife will disappear......but they don't want to hear that......listen...it's not Whitey's fault....you can't blame the White man for your girl being pregnant.....YOU did it.....When I was a kid, Tanzania had 6 million people....now it has 60 million....who did it???.....WWB

Wow was that ever written with an agenda in mind.
Habitat loss do to man consuming more & more land is a problem just about everywhere in the world. Nothing new there.

Back in the 1970s Paul and Anne Ehrlich also attracted vitriol when they promoted population control. The Ehrlichs put the blame for nearly all environmental problems squarely where it belonged: too many people for the planet to long support. Back then there were only 4 billion or so of us. The Population Bomb truly is the Elephant in the Room nobody wants to talk about.

It isn't the number of kids you have, it is the number that survive to have more kids that counts (population biology/wildlife ecology). The blame is on better medical care. Don't forget, in these areas kids are your farm workers and retirement plan.
Africa will move towards what we see in North Am and Europe. They want the life we lead, wouldn't you?

If global warming is a thing, and if it's man made, then the solution to that is not to have everyone live in a cave (without a fire), it's to cap or even better reduce the population. That will take a pandemic that is more lethal than covid, or some event that causes mass starvation, or perhaps nuclear war on a large scale. It won't happen voluntarily. Conventional wars don't work ... covid has killed more in the USA than two world wars combined, and in both cases these events had negligible long term effect as both left women of child-bearing age largely unaffected.

Maybe this will do it

more deadly covid variant

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
If global warming is a thing, and if it's man made, then the solution to that is not to have everyone live in a cave (without a fire), it's to cap or even better reduce the population. That will take a pandemic that is more lethal than covid, or some event that causes mass starvation, or perhaps nuclear war on a large scale. It won't happen voluntarily. Conventional wars don't work ... covid has killed more in the USA than two world wars combined, and in both cases these events had negligible long term effect as both left women of child-bearing age largely unaffected.

Maybe this will do it

more deadly covid variant

"Researchers are still trying to determine whether it is more transmissible or more lethal than previous strains."

I don't believe in abortion but the birth control pill should be provided, pushed and incentivized.

With the Ghislaine Maxwell trial starting today, perhaps William is running media interference for his Uncle.

quote:

Originally posted by rolank:
I don't believe in abortion but the birth control pill should be provided, pushed and incentivized.

Then you should never consent to having one.